The Town of Southern Shores will host a ribbon-cutting ceremony 11 a.m. Saturday at its newly renovated flat top cottage at 13 Skyline Road, shortly before the start of the sixth-ever flat top cottage tour, which is scheduled from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. Fourteen mid-century flat tops, including all five of the cottages that have been designated historic landmarks, will be open for viewing.
Tour tickets are $10 each and are available in person, by cash or check, from the Southern Shores Historic Flat Top Cottages group’s box-office tent in the southeast corner of the parking lot of the Southern Shores Crossing shopping center, from 10 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Saturday; and online, with a $1.50 handling fee, at https://southernshoreshistoricflattops.ticketleap.com.
All ticket proceeds will benefit the Flat Top Preservation Fund of the Outer Banks Community Foundation (OBCF).
The Southern Shores Crossing is located at 1 Ocean Blvd., behind Southern Shores Realty, and is a good place to gather before the tour starts.
Shore Coffee Roasters, a roastery café whose space in the Crossing is being readied for opening, will be set up outside Saturday, offering tour ticketholders a free cup of coffee from 10 a.m. to 1:30 p.m., as well as selling coffee to paying customers.
According to tour organizer Sally Gudas, who will be selling tickets, four merchants in the Crossing will be donating 10 percent of their day’s sales proceeds to the preservation fund. They are Shore Coffee Roasters, Southern Shores Pizza, Sojourn, and Steamers.
You may pick up your ticket, a tour map, and a handout about the 14 cottages’ histories at the box office tent. Those who purchase their tickets online may print out these materials in advance or pick them up at the box office—and grab a cup of coffee nearby. Shore Coffee Roasters is located in the space once occupied by Coastal Provisions.
RE-OPENING 13 SKYLINE ROAD
Nature artist, real estate developer, and Southern Shores founder Frank Stick designed and built the flat top at 13 Skyline Road in 1953. Mr. Stick (1884-1966), who primarily concerned himself with early oceanfront construction, referred to the flat top as “the cottage in the dunes.”
Much has been written about Frank Stick’s 1947 purchase of the 4-square-mile tract of land north of Kitty Hawk that would become Southern Shores and the artist’s vision of an exclusive oceanfront-to-soundfront community. We will say only that he sought to build dwellings that blended in with the sand and would be sturdy during harsh weather, and was influenced by houses he saw in Key West, Fla.
On the tour you will learn about the 42-pound blocks of concrete that were made with local sand (son David Stick, historian and author, writes in his memoirs about constructing them!), the juniper paneling that came from local trees (and, thus, was more affordable), the no-pitch roofs, and other flat-top features.
The Town purchased the Skyline Road flat top last year for $400,000 from the Outer Banks Community Foundation, which operated its office out of the cottage for 15 years before it relocated to Manteo.
The OBCF acquired the cottage in 2007 as a gift from longtime owners, Dr. John R. Tietjen and his wife, Norma F. Tietjen. The Tietjens, who are now deceased, sought in the covenants to their deed of gift to preserve Southern Shores history, to honor Frank Stick, and to benefit non-profit causes. (For background about the cottage and the Tietjens, each of whom lived nearly 99 years, see The Beacon, 4/14/24.)
The Town has returned the historic flat top to a residence, the restoration of which has been managed by Town Police Chief David Kole. The flat top is expected to be occupied temporarily by newly hired Southern Shores police officers, who may have difficulty finding affordable permanent housing.
The flat top is adjacent to a now-vacant lot at 7 Skyline Road that the Town bought in 2015 for $205,000. The Town demolished a small single-story house in need of repair that was on the site and has yet to use the property. This lot is next to the Kern Pitts Center and has been described as part of the “Town complex.”
TAKING THE TOUR
The flat top tour is self-guided, so you may start at any one of the 14 open houses. It is not a walking tour, except where some of the cottages are located in close proximity to each other, so be prepared to look for parking as you move en route. Tour parking will be designated in several areas, but most of the parking will be on the street or in the driveways of the tour homes. Parking will be permissible without a permit on Town roads Saturday, but not on N.C. Hwy. 12.
(For those who are unfamiliar with the area: Ocean Boulevard is N.C. Hwy. 12 until the road splits, going north, at the cell tower park. If you stay to the right of the tower, you will continue on the “local” section of Ocean Boulevard, which is Town-owned; if you veer to the left, you will be on a section of N.C. 12 that is called Duck Road and is State-owned.)
If you start with 13 Skyline Road and travel north, your route will take you to these flat tops, in order of location; those that are asterisked have been designated historic landmarks:
78 Skyline Road: Lambroff Cottage
43 Ocean Blvd.: Powell/Harritt Cottage
69 Ocean Blvd.: Sea Spray Cottage
113 Ocean Blvd.: Knight Cottage
142 Ocean Blvd.*: Seaquel
Just past the cell-tower split on Duck Road, you will make a left turn on to Porpoise Run to see the two flat tops located on Wax Myrtle Trail. They are:
156 Wax Myrtle Trail*: Clarke/Gudas Cottage (the third house on the right, at the corner of Porpoise Run and Wax Myrtle)
159 Wax Myrtle Trail: Falconer Cottage
After you’ve toured these two cottages, we suggest that you return to Porpoise Run and cross Duck Road to see the flat top on the east side of Porpoise Run, which is only a block long. If you choose, you can walk from Wax Myrtle Trail to Porpoise Run (or vice versa). The house on Porpoise Run is:
23 Porpoise Run*: Sokol/Clements Cottage (pictured above)
From Porpoise Run, travel east to Ocean Boulevard and turn left. In order of location, you will come to:
157 Ocean Blvd.: Sea Breezes
169 Ocean Blvd.: Atlantic Breezes
170 Ocean Blvd.*: Pink Perfection (the Edith Pipkin Cottage, the oldest and perhaps the loveliest flat top on the tour, it is currently owned by two great-nieces of Ms. Pipkin)
218 Ocean Blvd.*: Mackey Cottage
Before the Mackey Cottage, you may wish to turn left on East Dogwood Trail and visit:
18 East Dogwood Trail: Oh So Sandy! Newman
Or you can visit it before you walk to the Mackey Cottage.
Homeowners will be present in all of the cottages except those at 142 and 170 Ocean Blvd.
You are likely to encounter a display of vintage photographs and other artifacts from bygone years of tranquil beach living at the homes, as well as personable hosts, a few of whom have memories of Southern Shores when it was predominantly a community of flat tops.
The Town of Southern Shores established a Historic Landmarks Commission in 2016 to raise awareness of the historic significance of properties in town and to encourage preservation. While only five of the approximately 25 existing flat tops have been designated historic landmarks, others are eligible, but homeowners need to apply for the status.
SAYING HELLO (AND THANK YOU) TO SALLY AND STEVE
If you prefer to start your tour in the middle, or if there is congestion that sends you in that direction, we recommend that you go by the Clarke/Gudas Cottage and meet Sally and Steve Gudas, the very knowledgeable, friendly, and hard-working organizers of the flat top tour. Steve will be on his own at their charming flat top until Sally closes ticket sales and joins him.
Sally’s history with the Outer Banks goes back to the 1970s and, if yours does, too, you may enjoy reminiscing with her about the good old days.
For all of the tour info you may need, please check out https://southernshoreshistoricflattops.ticketleap.com/ southern-shores-historic-flat-top-cottage-tour/.
We hope to see you out there for this celebration of Southern Shores’ singular architectural history.
By Ann G. Sjoerdsma, 4/25/24
The Southern Shores Beacon 